Frongoch: A day in the life

Dublin, 1 November 1916 - Liam Grogan, an Assistant Curator at the National Museum, has just been released from Frongoch and has given an account of the food and daily regime in the prison camp.

He said that the men in the prison got up at 5.30am, took mass at 7am, breakfast at 8am and then spent until 10.30am cleaning their bedrooms and the dining hall. After an inspection they had dinner at noon and, after that, the prisoners had the rest of the day until 6pm to themselves. There was the occasional céilí and some painting and reading. At 6pm the dormitory doors were closed until 5.30 the following morning. His overall view is that: ‘Life there is pretty monotonous.’

Ordinarily a resident of Phibsborough in Dublin, Mr Grogan was arrested in the aftermath of the Easter Rising and was sent to Wales.

A request from the Home Office for figures of those imprisoned, deported and released after the rebellion. Click here to enlarge the documents. (Image: National Archives of Ireland, CSO RP 1916 19264)

[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]

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